This is meant to be an informative thread on the highway traffic situations in our region. I will be using three different measures for the maps, but only 2 for the tables. For the maps, I'll be using ADT (Average Daily Traffic which can show how high or low traffic can go with seasonal variations depending on when the count was taken), AADT (Average Annual Daily Traffic which is adjusted to account for seasonal variations and shows the average volume of traffic per day over an entire year), and AADT/lane (Average Annual Daily Traffic per Lane - this is one I'm using as a partial level of service measure...please note that this is not meant to be a complete LOS analysis as these take into account many other things such as pavement condition, topography, %trucks, etc). I'm simply going to post the maps and tables and stay out of the political stuff, as there is an abundance in every region.

I'll start this one with 100-series highways, and I plan to eventually do Trunk Highways and possibly even Collectors, though I'm not sure about that last one yet.

All statistics were taken from the book: Traffic Volumes Primary Highway System 1999-2008 by the Nova Scotia Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal. All maps were created in Google Maps.

This thread will also be open to people posting similar things for highways in New Brunswick, PEI, and Newfoundland, though I will only be tackling Nova Scotia. I also ask, for simplicity sake, that maps use the same legend I will be using so we can have easy comparisons across the board.

That's the information/disclaimer post out of the way. Please be patient as I'm going to start the next post "NS 100-series higways" ...now!

I'm not sure what traffic levels on Highway 125 are like so it might be in the top 5 as well since its in an urban setting as well.

Smevo can I possible ask if you can post the traffic levels for Magazine Hill (Trunk 7 from Akerley Blvd to Trunk 33)? I use that road a lot and its always jammed pack no matter the time of day.

Smevo

Nov 14, 2009, 8:00 PM

The 100-series highways in Nova Scotia are meant to be freeways with speed limits of 100km/h or above. However most can range from divided freeways to 2-lane freeways to trunks with speed limits ranging anywhere from 50km/h to 110km/h.

One last disclaimer Hwy 111 (Circumferential Highway in Dartmouth) does not appear here due to a lack of information for thru traffic for this highway. Most of the information in the book for this particular highway are for ramps, with the only thru traffic counts being for two 4-lane sections between the MicMac Parclo and Rte207, and between Gaston Rd and Pleasant St.

ADT
ADT is not the best measure of how busy a highway is because of differing seasonal variations, but it can show how busy a highway can get during peak season. It would, however, be wasteful to design to the ADT levels.

I meant to do an NS-100 series overall map, but it kept messing up on me.
Cape Breton 100-series
http://www.pbase.com/smevo/image/119289383.jpg
Busiest Section - Hwy 125 between Exits 7 and 8, Sydney (29,772)

Halifax Area Divided
http://www.pbase.com/smevo/image/119289392.jpg
There are two sections of Hwy 107 that show up here that shouldn't. One is a suburban Blvd exiting Burnside Industrial Park, and the other is a 4-lane trunk. I made this map before checking it out in Streetview, but couldn't edit this one. I'm pretty sure I could edit the others, and they're the more important ones anyway.
Busiest Section - Hwy 102 between Exits 1 and 1A, Halifax (56,515)

I'm not sure what traffic levels on Highway 125 are like so it might be in the top 5 as well since its in an urban setting as well.

Smevo can I possible ask if you can post the traffic levels for Magazine Hill (Trunk 7 from Akerley Blvd to Trunk 33)? I use that road a lot and its always jammed pack no matter the time of day.

I haven't gotten to the trunks yet, but looking at the book, Trunk 33 looks to get ~25,000 AADT, and from Victoria Rd, Dartmouth to the Bedford Bypass on Trunk 7, your getting between 19,000 and 23,000 AADT. I'll be posting the tables for the top 30 highway sections in the next post, as well as listing the highways by busiest section by AADT.

Smevo

Nov 14, 2009, 9:11 PM

Colour legend is the same as the ADT. I will also be doing the same kind of stuff, but adding some tables.

Ok, so I guess I don't have an overall NS map, I thought I managed to get some done for these next two sections, but now I remember that they kept messing up on me too. I'll go back and try again later and edit them in if I'm successful.

Some of the numbers are probably off now because of development in the last year (particularly Hwy 118) and with new interchanges for 101 and 102 those numbers will jump next year.

Out of curiousity does anyone know the general traffic levels required before twinning is considered?

eternallyme

Nov 14, 2009, 9:57 PM

With those traffic counts, the 104 should definitely be twinned up to (and including) the Canso Causeway ASAP, along with the 103 gap to Bridgewater and the 101 to Berwick.

The 102 should be 6 lanes at least to Exit 7.

Twinning should be considered when the AADT is close to 10,000 (i.e. within or shortly after the construction timeframe), although that can be higher on commuter routes (i.e. 107, 118) and lower on core national routes with high truck traffic volumes (i.e. 102, 104). The 104 should have a lower traffic tolerance before twinning being the Trans-Canada Highway.

Smevo

Nov 14, 2009, 10:10 PM

Ok, I need a new legend for this one. All I did was take the AADT in a section and divide it by the number of through lanes in that section.

Any chance of a New Brunswick series? I've been looking for a while, but I can't find any published traffic data from the NB DoT.

Smevo

Nov 15, 2009, 4:40 AM

^That depends on if I can find it, and if I want to shell out the money or not. I had to buy the book to get this data, which actually didn't cost that much. I picked up the book in the spring and it's taken me until now to do this much, so it's pretty time-consuming when you're trying to fit it in to any free time you have.

As for the traffic changing, that's going to be the case on several highways I'm sure. In Sydney's case, the expanding suburbia in Sydney River, Howie Centre, Coxheath, and Westmount combined with the new Membertou Access Road which is supposed to be ready for next year, as well as the expansion of the SPAR Rd Power Centre will all cause increases in traffic on the 125. Added to that will be the re-opening of SPAR into downtown as a by-pass of Prince St when the Tar Ponds capping is done.

Bedford DJ's already mentioned the Halifax situation.

alps

Nov 15, 2009, 7:44 AM

Thanks Smevo, these are great! Why is highway 162 designated as such? It seems so pointless.

I wonder if the 113 will have much of an impact on Bicentennial traffic if constructed (which it shouldn't be, IMO).

JHikka

Nov 15, 2009, 1:33 PM

Thanks for the great info!

kirjtc2

Nov 15, 2009, 4:25 PM

162 was built to serve the mines at Point Aconi, but now that they're gone it's deserted.

I've had that NS book for 3-4 years now. It's the general roadgeek in me. I've tried to find New Brunswick traffic counts for years but the DOT seems to treat them like the formula to Coke. I don't get it. A few provinces and states (Ontario and Maine for sure) have them online for free.

As for 111 (and all the others around there)....might want to try and contact HRM. They keep all the data for those roads.

Dmajackson

Nov 15, 2009, 10:50 PM

I'm curious to know if there is a database of some sort that documents fatal crashes in Nova Scotia?

It would be interesting to know the highest traffic fatal/vehicle rate in the province (my guess 101 but 103 is up there too).

Smevo

Nov 16, 2009, 5:31 AM

162 was built to serve the mines at Point Aconi, but now that they're gone it's deserted.

I've had that NS book for 3-4 years now. It's the general roadgeek in me. I've tried to find New Brunswick traffic counts for years but the DOT seems to treat them like the formula to Coke. I don't get it. A few provinces and states (Ontario and Maine for sure) have them online for free.

As for 111 (and all the others around there)....might want to try and contact HRM. They keep all the data for those roads.

There's some data for the 111, but again, it's mostly ramps. I also have the "Traffic Volumes Secondary Roads 1999-2008" book (because I thought that's where the collectors would show up, collectors being the 200 and 300 series in NS) which has the counts done by the municipalities themselves. The 100-series, trunks, and collectors are all provincial responsibility for counts and upgrades however, though it may be different for trunks and collectors within city/municipal limits though, since I think the Kings Rd upgrades along with the upgrades on Grand Lake Rd coinciding with SPAR Rd upgrading are both technically on Trunk 4 and I think it was CBRM that paid for them, though I could be wrong...it may have been cost-shared. I know CBRM only does counts on roads that aren't covered by the province, not sure if HRM works the same way.

I'm curious to know if there is a database of some sort that documents fatal crashes in Nova Scotia?

It would be interesting to know the highest traffic fatal/vehicle rate in the province (my guess 101 but 103 is up there too).

I'm curious about the same thing myself, but I couldn't find anything on it that was highway specific.

eternallyme

Nov 17, 2009, 3:25 AM

What are the plans for the 104 east of New Glasgow, is it going to be twinned in the near future?

Smevo

Nov 17, 2009, 2:55 PM

That's the plan, but nothing firm has come out yet. The last government was waiting for a P3 deal, so it's wait and see what Dexter and the NDP will do.

Dmajackson

Nov 22, 2009, 7:04 PM

What are the plans for the 104 east of New Glasgow, is it going to be twinned in the near future?

Well the section to Pine Tree Road is underway. Pine Tree Rd to Sutherland's River is supposed to begin later this year.

Further down the first phase of the Antigonish Bypass is underway and the second phase will start in 2011.

The government website doesn't have any information for beyond Antigonish yet.

There's also apparently a new interchange in environmental assesment stage for Boutilier's Point here in Halifax (with Hwy 103). And a new two lane highway for Hwy 103 from Broad River to Point Mouton in design stage

Smevo

Nov 24, 2009, 12:32 AM

^you beat me to it Bedford. I noticed the updated page on Friday, and was planning to post the same stuff over the weekend but never got around to it.

On that note, this brings to light another use for this thread. Why don't we post the major upgrades for freeways and possibly trunks (at least the major trunks) in the Atlantic provinces here. So, for NS, the 100-series, and the trunks (1-99 in theory, though only Tk1 - Tk33 exist at the moment). For NB, I guess it would be reverse with freeways 1-99 (I can only think of 1-17 right now) and trunks would probably be the 100-series. Not sure what the numbering systems in PEI and NL are beyond Hwy 1 & 2 in PEI and Hwy 1 in NL.

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
1-4: major highways
5-99: collector highways (only goes up to....25 I think?)
100-199: local routes in Prince County
200-299: local routes in Queens County
300-399: local routes in Kings County

NEWFOUNDLAND
1: Trans-Canada Highway
2-999: everything else (lowest numbers are in St. John's and area and increase as you go west up to the 400s on the west coast, 500s in Labrador)
yyy-nn: local routes (where, for instance, route 100-12 is the 12th branch road off route 100)

What can I say, I'm a total roadgeek :)

mylesmalley

Nov 24, 2009, 2:08 PM

Take pride, Kirjtc. You're among friends.

ConundrumNL

Nov 25, 2009, 3:20 AM

Newfoundland Highways

First off I'm going list off the primary inter-provincial highways linking the different regions of island.

Newfoundland is divided into five areas based on different the regions of the province (West Coast=3, Labrador=5, etc..). Usually roads are assigned a 3 digit number; the first digit is the area number (indicating the roads location), the second is identifier number, and the third indicates if the road is a primary route (ends with 0) or a branch road (ends with 1-9). Branch roads are assigned numbers based off primary route they branch from, for example Route 432 is a branch from Route 430.

Exceptions to this plan are the Avalon Peninsula, where mostly two digit route numbers are used, the St. John's Metro area, where there are some single digit routes, and of course the TCH. A possible explanation for this is the Avalon is area 0 and signage just omits the zero. On the Avalon there are also some routes in the 100, and 200 ranges

**This is based on information I read years ago, and may be incorrect. Though looking at the route map it makes sense. If you have correct or updated information please post it.

Next post regional roads.....

Smevo

Nov 25, 2009, 6:01 AM

Thanks for the clarfication kirjtc2 and ConundrumNL. I was basing my assumption of NB numbering merely on driver observation, and trying to compare the numbering system to one which I knew well (ie-NS). Having driven on the 1, 2, 7, 8, 11, 15, 16, and 17, they could pass as 100-series in NS (though in some parts of the 100-series system, that's not hard to do), and the 100, 102, 105 and 112 reminded me of NS trunks where it's a mix of urban arterial and inter-urban connector (ie- the old main highways before the "freeways" started popping up).

MonctonRad

Nov 25, 2009, 1:10 PM

It would be nice if there was a coherent highway numbering system in Canada, like there is in the U.S.

kirjtc2

Nov 25, 2009, 4:29 PM

Thanks for the clarfication kirjtc2 and ConundrumNL. I was basing my assumption of NB numbering merely on driver observation, and trying to compare the numbering system to one which I knew well (ie-NS). Having driven on the 1, 2, 7, 8, 11, 15, 16, and 17, they could pass as 100-series in NS (though in some parts of the 100-series system, that's not hard to do), and the 100, 102, 105 and 112 reminded me of NS trunks where it's a mix of urban arterial and inter-urban connector (ie- the old main highways before the "freeways" started popping up).

On the other hand, there are other routes like the 104 or 122 that would probably more remind you of the "brown" routes in NS.

There are some sections of 100-series in NS that slow to a crawl (Antigonish), but they're at least still bypasses per se. On the other hand, there are definitely portions of the "green" system in NB that still go through the middle of towns (Caraquet), and would be trunk routes in NS...3, 4, 10, 17, 11 along the Acadian Peninsula, maybe 8. On the other hand, the only NS 100-series route (that I've been on, at least) that is mostly non-controlled access is 105.

I'd say the comparison would go something like this (hope the formatting works):

It would be nice if there was a coherent highway numbering system in Canada, like there is in the U.S.

A national highway system like the Interstates would be great, but I don't think it will happen, namely because of Canada's Constitution. The British North America Act (the primary document of Canada's Constitution) states that things like road construction, and railways are solely under the jurisdiction of the provinces (for the most part!). The Feds can provide funding though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Works_and_Undertakings

That being said a national system could still happen if all the provinces could agree on a numbering scheme and construction standards, but all I can say is good luck with that.

eternallyme

Nov 25, 2009, 6:06 PM

A national highway system like the Interstates would be great, but I don't think it will happen, namely because of Canada's Constitution. The British North America Act (the primary document of Canada's Constitution) states that things like road construction, and railways are solely under the jurisdiction of the provinces (for the most part!). The Feds can provide funding though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Works_and_Undertakings

That being said a national system could still happen if all the provinces could agree on a numbering scheme and construction standards, but all I can say is good luck with that.

If I were to design it, here is what I would do:

1-4: Main interprovincial and transcontinental east-west highways:

1 - Trans-Canada Highway from Montreal to Vancouver, then Autoroute 40 and Route 138 along the North Shore of the St. Lawrence.

2 - Highway 401, Autoroute 20 and then the Trans-Canada Highway on to Halifax (or St. John's).

3 - Southern Alternate route: Crowsnest Highway and Highways 13/18/3. Could also extend to Thunder Bay, but there would be a gap in the route due to the US border and Lake of the Woods.

4 - Yellowhead route (Portage la Prairie to Prince Rupert).

5-99: Primary routes. There would be no real geographic system, but the following priority order:

b) Routes of historical importance should keep/regain their historical importance.

c) If that route is clearly the most important of provincial routes with that number, it should take that number if not yet used. For example, Vancouver Island should have 19 run the entire length.

d) Remaining routes should be designated with no real priority.

100-199: Secondary routes: These are generally found in remote areas. Numbering is the same as for 5-99.

200-999: Loop and spur routes. The last two digits would indicate the route it is a deviation of. These numbers CAN repeat.

First digit 2, 4, 6 or 8: Alternate route. It could be an urban beltway/bypass/downtown route (such as Highway 7 in Fredericton) or it could be an alternate to the main route.

First digit 3, 5, 7 or 9: Spur route. It could be a route that reaches into a city (such as the Ville-Marie Autoroute in Montreal or Highway 118 in Halifax), or a connector route to another primary or off-route community.

Smevo

Nov 25, 2009, 10:18 PM

On the other hand, there are other routes like the 104 or 122 that would probably more remind you of the "brown" routes in NS.

There are some sections of 100-series in NS that slow to a crawl (Antigonish), but they're at least still bypasses per se. On the other hand, there are definitely portions of the "green" system in NB that still go through the middle of towns (Caraquet), and would be trunk routes in NS...3, 4, 10, 17, 11 along the Acadian Peninsula, maybe 8. On the other hand, the only NS 100-series route (that I've been on, at least) that is mostly non-controlled access is 105.

I'd say the comparison would go something like this (hope the formatting works):

That comparison sounds pretty much bang on. I've never been on the 104 or 122 in NB (at least, not that I can recall). The 100-series in NS has come a long way. When the numbering system first came into play, it was far from a "freeway" or "bypass". Now however, with the exception of 105 as you said, it's mostly controlled access freeways, whether divided or not.

As for NS trunks, they tend to go through the heart of small and major towns on their way. That's why the 100, 102 and 105 in NB reminded me so much of NS Trunks. Here's the trunks and the major towns they go through (I'm not cross-referencing with population, so forgive my use of the word "major" in some of these cases).

Trunks 8, 10, 12, and 14 are connector trunks between Hwy 103 and 101, and don't seem to go through anything, though they start and end near "major" towns. Trunk 16 serves Guysborough County between Monastery and Larry's River, and, well, even calling Guysborough Town major would be stretching it. Trunk 19 is a similar story, just substitute "Inverness" where I said "Guysborough" before.

Trunk 22
Sydney (starts on George St, winds through Mira cottage country to get to Louisbourg where it ends)

Trunk 28
Sydney (following Victoria Rd)
New Waterford
Dominion
Glace Bay (follows Main St, and South St to end of street)

Trunk 30 is the Cabot Trail, Trunk 32 is a short trunk that mostly follows NW Arm Dr in Halifax from what I can gather, and Trunk 33 is another short trunk between Trunk 7 (Magazine Hill) and Hwy 101.

Collectors in NS are shorter (usually) versions of Trunks with even lower standards of design and maintenance (as scary as that sounds).

Haliguy

Nov 26, 2009, 2:10 AM

This is meant to be an informative thread on the highway traffic situations in our region. I will be using three different measures for the maps, but only 2 for the tables. For the maps, I'll be using ADT (Average Daily Traffic which can show how high or low traffic can go with seasonal variations depending on when the count was taken), AADT (Average Annual Daily Traffic which is adjusted to account for seasonal variations and shows the average volume of traffic per day over an entire year), and AADT/lane (Average Annual Daily Traffic per Lane - this is one I'm using as a partial level of service measure...please note that this is not meant to be a complete LOS analysis as these take into account many other things such as pavement condition, topography, %trucks, etc). I'm simply going to post the maps and tables and stay out of the political stuff, as there is an abundance in every region.

I'll start this one with 100-series highways, and I plan to eventually do Trunk Highways and possibly even Collectors, though I'm not sure about that last one yet.

All statistics were taken from the book: Traffic Volumes Primary Highway System 1999-2008 by the Nova Scotia Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal. All maps were created in Google Maps.

This thread will also be open to people posting similar things for highways in New Brunswick, PEI, and Newfoundland, though I will only be tackling Nova Scotia. I also ask, for simplicity sake, that maps use the same legend I will be using so we can have easy comparisons across the board.

That's the information/disclaimer post out of the way. Please be patient as I'm going to start the next post "NS 100-series higways" ...now!

Just wondering...where can you obtain this book?

Smevo

Nov 26, 2009, 4:09 AM

Just wondering...where can you obtain this book?

From the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal, it's in the "publications" section iirc. It cost me about $30-40 per book I think. They should be coming out with the 2000-2009 edition soon. I'm not sure what the release dates are, but when December comes to a close, so do the last counts, signal analyses, etc for the year. If you have any questions on a specific highway, road, or section, let me know and I'll see if I have it in my edition.

I'm currently going through the number crunching on the trunks when I have time, so they should show up sometime early in the new year hopefully.

I'm not positive on this point but because of the proximity of Trunk 1 (two short stoplights away) I think Trunk 1 is extended to the intersection.

Ok, I knew about Dartmouth Rd being part of it, just wasn't sure of the boundaries of Bedford. Trunk 1 looks to start at the intersection of Trunk 1 and 2, where Bedford Hwy becomes Trunk 1 to Lower Sackville and Trunk 2 follows Rocky Lake Dr. Both Bing and Google show it this way.

The two trunks that I can't find labeled on either map are 32 and 33. I know a bit about their alignment by the description of their count locations, but I'd probably be a bit off on doing their maps. For 32, it seems to mostly follow NW Arm Dr between Main Ave (just north of Hwy 102) to Old Sambro Rd for a length of just under 5km. Trunk 33, all I know is it goes from Trunk 7 to Hwy 101 and crosses Trunk 2, again for a length of just under 5km. If any of you guys could confirm 32's alignment, and point out 33's alignment, it would be greatly appreciated for the next set of info.

kirjtc2

Nov 27, 2009, 8:28 PM

32 is that segment of Northwest Arm Drive you mentioned, 33 is the Bedford Bypass.

Dmajackson

Nov 28, 2009, 4:11 AM

Ok, I knew about Dartmouth Rd being part of it, just wasn't sure of the boundaries of Bedford. Trunk 1 looks to start at the intersection of Trunk 1 and 2, where Bedford Hwy becomes Trunk 1 to Lower Sackville and Trunk 2 follows Rocky Lake Dr. Both Bing and Google show it this way.

The two trunks that I can't find labeled on either map are 32 and 33. I know a bit about their alignment by the description of their count locations, but I'd probably be a bit off on doing their maps. For 32, it seems to mostly follow NW Arm Dr between Main Ave (just north of Hwy 102) to Old Sambro Rd for a length of just under 5km. Trunk 33, all I know is it goes from Trunk 7 to Hwy 101 and crosses Trunk 2, again for a length of just under 5km. If any of you guys could confirm 32's alignment, and point out 33's alignment, it would be greatly appreciated for the next set of info.

Bedford's official boundaries are actually very interesting. Officially we stretch from the end of Windmill Road in Dartmouth (where it becomes Magazine Hill) to the Bi-Hi (Hwy 102). Where the 2 and 7 meet is one of the main intersections in town and for a long time was the heart of the town. In one form or another that intersections been around for 200 years (if not longer).

I really think to alleviate traffic problems on Dartmouth Road (7) they should have a full diamond interchange at Trunk 2 and Trunk 33.

Of course Parker's Brook and the rail line could be a problem for building the ramps but in about 4 years when BJH is closed down a half diamond could be done easily (northside ramps only). Even a half interchnage could get traffic off of the Bedford Highway and with the Bedford Commons ever so slowly being developed the traffic will only get worst.

Smevo

Nov 28, 2009, 8:08 PM

Perfect, thanks guys.

kirjtc2, yeah, that's why I was confused. It was labeled as Hwy 101 on both online maps I tried.

eternallyme

Nov 29, 2009, 1:44 AM

One thing I don't like in Nova Scotia: their exits are sequentially (and often confusingly) numbered, not in kilometre-post. IMO, they should all be changed - some of them are downright confusing (1D before 1A? 13A, 13, 14, 14A?)

^I would go further and change the A's and B's to the directionality (north, south, east, and west).

So for example Exit 4A/B would become Exit 17N/S.

One project they really need to do soon is widening the Bi-Hi by the airport. The three lane section northbound (from Halifax) is great but the other direction is just horrible for overcrowdedness. The airport on-ramp lane should be extended right to the Miller Lake exchange (Hwy 118). It would become three lanes then (right lane for Hwy 102 traffic, left lane for Hwy 118 traffic and the middle lane would split).

kirjtc2

Nov 29, 2009, 3:08 AM

eternallyme: It makes more sense, and other places are seeing the light. Maine switched from the sequential exit numbers to the milepost system about 5 years ago. And the way NS adds random letters (I remember our family getting lost once when I was little because the map said exit 1 but the sign said 1D) makes it even more confusing.

Can anyone explain all those weird letter suffixes at the 1/101/102 interchange? If there's an "Exit ##K" anywhere else in North America, I'd be shocked.

ConundrumNL

Nov 30, 2009, 9:33 PM

eternallyme: It makes more sense, and other places are seeing the light. Maine switched from the sequential exit numbers to the milepost system about 5 years ago. And the way NS adds random letters (I remember our family getting lost once when I was little because the map said exit 1 but the sign said 1D) makes it even more confusing.

Can anyone explain all those weird letter suffixes at the 1/101/102 interchange? If there's an "Exit ##K" anywhere else in North America, I'd be shocked.

Newfoundland uses sequential exits on the Trans Canada, and there are a few ##A and B exits around St. John's and maybe Corner Brook. I don't think the province uses exit numbers on any other highways, they just sign where the exit leads.

JHikka

Nov 30, 2009, 10:07 PM

Newfoundland does use the sequential numbers, but that's because the TCH is literally the only highway for the vast majority of that province. ;)

NLJP

Nov 30, 2009, 11:46 PM

Newfoundland uses sequential exits on the Trans Canada, and there are a few ##A and B exits around St. John's and maybe Corner Brook. I don't think the province uses exit numbers on any other highways, they just sign where the exit leads.The only ##A/B exit in the province I know of is the interchange between the TCH (Highway 1) and Pitts Memorial Drive (Highway 2) in St. John's - on the TCH it's Exit 41A southbound on Pitts Memorial Drive into Mount Pearl/downtown and 41B northbound on Pitts Memorial Drive onto the CBS bypass into CBS.

The interchanges at Kenmount Road/Karwood Drive, Torbay Road and Portugal Cove Road have separate north/south exits, but I don't think they're numbered with A/B. Either way the signage is quite good for 41A/B, if you know where you're going in St. John's. If you're going east into the city from, well, the middle of nowhere (also known as Newfoundland, flamesuit :haha: ), there's a sign saying Exit 41A - Mount Pearl / St. John's (downtown) and then two overhead signs with the left lanes reading Exit 41B - Conception Bay South and the right lane reading Exit 41A - Mount Pearl / St. John's (downtown) again, and then the exit opens for 41A (cloverleaf) and 41B is on a weaving lane with traffic going eastbound on the TCH from Pitts Memorial and traffic heading north on Pitts Memorial/CBS Bypass/Highway 2 exiting.

That was quite possibly the most confusing paragraph I've ever written, but it isn't overly complicated. :haha:
Newfoundland does use the sequential numbers, but that's because the TCH is literally the only highway for the vast majority of that province. ;)Yeah, pretty much. I've never seen any highway in the province other than the TCH have exit numbers. Pitts Memorial only has 4 or 5 exits anyway before it goes into CBS, and then 4 or 5 more there and the other highways are mostly just at-grade intersections.

Smevo

Dec 12, 2009, 7:34 PM

Just wanted to give an update, I'm currently working on the maps for the trunk highways, so watch for them in the next week or so.

I've also decided I will be doing the collectors (though aadt only) and then doing a series on the urban areas, first with just highways and roads of each class, then (if the maps don't get too cluttered), all three classes of highways and local roads that I have info for combined to get a comprehensive traffic flow map for each urban area (by statscan standards).

I've checked into the NB stuff, and have run into the same problems others have, but would still like to see similar info for PEI and NL if anyone's up for it.

eternallyme

Dec 13, 2009, 3:27 AM

How would Highway 104 look if the exits were re-numbered and made more sense? This assumes the entire corridor is twinned or basically left as-is, except for the Antigonish bypass and a possible Canso Causeway relocation.

(Red = currently an at-grade intersection, but assume they are kept as interchanges in the ultimate design; Blue = under construction or planned, a pure guess)

Thanks, I was going by a combination of maps, other sites and Google Earth, since I haven't travelled that highway since 2000.

Twinning/bypassing the Canso Causeway would be an interesting decision, since the options are:

1) Twinning the causeway, new approaches (but how to cross the railway?)

2) Twinning the causeway and the approaches (requires major expropriation, and curves are too much)

3) New 4 lane causeway to the north (IMO the best option)

4) New 4 lane high-level bridge to the north (most expensive option for sure)

Dmajackson

Dec 13, 2009, 6:10 PM

^I think replacing it with a brand new state of the art bridge would be the best idea. From what I hear the causeway has had a few downsides like allowing non-native animals onto CB, altering tidal patterns in the Strait, and killing the local fish populations.

Besides for a province built on the water and known for our coastline I think its time we have an iconic bridge somewheres in the province.

eternallyme

Dec 13, 2009, 6:12 PM

^I think replacing it with a brand new state of the art bridge would be the best idea. From what I hear the causeway has had a few downsides like allowing non-native animals onto CB, altering tidal patterns in the Strait, and killing the local fish populations.

Besides for a province built on the water and known for our coastline I think its time we have an iconic bridge somewheres in the province.

The new bridge would also need to have a railway track provision (pretty difficult for a freeway bridge), or railway service to Cape Breton Island is lost.

Dmajackson

Dec 13, 2009, 6:15 PM

The new bridge would also need to have a railway track provision (pretty difficult for a freeway bridge), or railway service to Cape Breton Island is lost.

This would shoot the price up a lot but a seperate two-track rail bridge might work the best.

Another option would be to have a double deck bridge with vehicles on top and two rail lines underneath.

Smevo

Dec 13, 2009, 7:57 PM

Thanks, I was going by a combination of maps, other sites and Google Earth, since I haven't travelled that highway since 2000.

Twinning/bypassing the Canso Causeway would be an interesting decision, since the options are:

1) Twinning the causeway, new approaches (but how to cross the railway?)

2) Twinning the causeway and the approaches (requires major expropriation, and curves are too much)

3) New 4 lane causeway to the north (IMO the best option)

4) New 4 lane high-level bridge to the north (most expensive option for sure)

I'm basing my assumption on where the current 104 ends outside Port Hawkesbury, but I think a new structure to the north is the most likely, whether it's a causeway or bridge is anybody's guess. As for the 104 past River Tillard, there was a call for route proposals to complete the design and ROW to Sydney a couple of years back. The plan was to design for 4-lane twinned, but build initially as 2-lane controlled access freeway.

I did an estimate of traffic on a completed 104 by taking through traffic on 105 and adding that to each section of 104/Tk4 on the island (local traffic on Tk4, with the exceptions of Port Hawkesbury, St. Peter's, and close to Sydney) accounts for only about 500-1,000 vehicles of the aadt. It's not a perfect estimate by any means, but the least busy section would see about 4,300 and the busiest near 10,000 (near Sydney). This doesn't take into account the use of certain sections near Port Hawkesbury and Sydney as local road, nor does it account for increased usage for vacation traffic since the trip would now be easier and faster. I'll do up a quick map for illustration, than underneath list the sections and estimated aadt.

I'll use a different scale for this one, just to illustrate it a bit better, since it's only this one section of road, and I'll use Tk4 alignment after the 104 ends since I don't know where the route is going to go, though I have an idea of where I'd put it. (I think I'll do up a quick map of that underneath). Again, maps made by me in Google maps.

My initial thought was to put a new interchange with 125 east of Prime Brook, but then I remembered the existing barely used interchange at Sydport Access Rd, and figured this alignment would make that interchange more useful and would make the highway easier to access for current Sydport traffic and future container traffic.

The new route, if given a speed limit of 110 (which there's no reason I can see why it shouldn't), would cut the time down to all urban areas in the Sydney region, and would avoid the Kelly's Mountain hairpin which has been the site of many an overturned truck.

North Sydney (1h25min)-18mins vs current 104/4, -6mins vs 105
Sydney (1h19min)-26mins vs 105, -14mins vs current 104/4
Glace Bay (1h32min)-26mins vs 105, -14mins vs current 104/4
New Waterford (1h39min)-26mins vs 105, -14mins vs current 104/4
Louisbourg (2h2min)-26mins vs 105, -14mins vs current 104/4
Because of the decreased travel times, I'm guessing my estimates were a little more of a low-ball than I thought, since I only estimated through traffic to Sydney and East.

I'm still working on the trunks, but since the causeway came up and the proposed Port Hawkesbury bypass was in the news recently, I figured why not put this up for discussion.

Smevo

Dec 13, 2009, 8:01 PM

This would shoot the price up a lot but a seperate two-track rail bridge might work the best.

Another option would be to have a double deck bridge with vehicles on top and two rail lines underneath.

Part of me thinks the causeway would remain as Scenic Rte 4 even with a new crossing. The causeway has created an ice-free harbour for Port Hawkesbury and Melford, so there could be more economic implications there on its removal, seeing as Port Hawesbury handles high volumes of bulk cargo and the ice-free harbour was a selling point for the Melford container terminal proposal. :shrug:

As for the non-native animals, they usually get killed by traffic before they make it across. :cool:

Dmajackson

Dec 13, 2009, 9:02 PM

Part of me thinks the causeway would remain as Scenic Rte 4 even with a new crossing. The causeway has created an ice-free harbour for Port Hawkesbury and Melford, so there could be more economic implications there on its removal, seeing as Port Hawesbury handles high volumes of bulk cargo and the ice-free harbour was a selling point for the Melford container terminal proposal. :shrug:

As for the non-native animals, they usually get killed by traffic before they make it across. :cool:

I never thought of the ice problem (even though Google Maps shows quite the pile-up on the northside of the causeway).

As soon as Google Maps starts working for me again I'm going to do a quick sketch up of the route I think is the best for the 104. I'm going to leave the rail line out of it since it can stay with Trunk 4 across the Causeway for now.

Two little qusetions though for you Smevo;

1) How do you get Google Maps images to show up on the forum. I always end up posting a link ...

2) And you might know more than me on this. I remember a couple of years back seeing a government plan for a Port Hawkesbury bypass for the 104. Do you happen to know the routing of the proposed highway?

eternallyme

Dec 13, 2009, 9:40 PM

Looking at traffic counts, 104 should definitely be twinned up to Port Hastings before significant re-alignments on Cape Breton are necessary (the entire mainland section should be twinned ASAP - they should aggressively pursue a twinning of the entire remaining mainland section plus the Canso Causeway bypass). Once that is done, Cape Breton can begin to be conquered.

Existing 105 could even be downgraded and renumbered as Trunk 5 once 104 bypasses it from Port Hastings to the CBRM, since no part of it is a freeway and most of it is a rural arterial highway.

I do agree the existing Canso Causeway should be maintained as Trunk 4 for local traffic, since otherwise for local vehicles from Auld Cove to Port Hastings, it is a long way out to the two exits necessary.

The new 4-lane bridge/causeway could also be tolled until the cost is paid off, but in that situation, trucks would be banned from the existing causeway.

Smevo

Dec 13, 2009, 9:44 PM

I never thought of the ice problem (even though Google Maps shows quite the pile-up on the northside of the causeway).

As soon as Google Maps starts working for me again I'm going to do a quick sketch up of the route I think is the best for the 104. I'm going to leave the rail line out of it since it can stay with Trunk 4 across the Causeway for now.

Two little qusetions though for you Smevo;

1) How do you get Google Maps images to show up on the forum. I always end up posting a link ...

2) And you might know more than me on this. I remember a couple of years back seeing a government plan for a Port Hawkesbury bypass for the 104. Do you happen to know the routing of the proposed highway?

About posting Google Maps images on the forum, I cheat. That is to say I take a screencap, crop it in paint, and then host the jpg on my pbase account.

And for the Port Hawkesbury bypass, my assumption based on where the 104 ends at that end right now, it being planned to intersect 105, and the probable area for a new crossing, is a route similar to this here.

http://www.pbase.com/image/120255829.jpg

It probably goes either a little further south of the airport, or it goes north of it, but I doubt the airport actually poses much of a problem as it's a low traffic airport for small private planes.

Smevo

Dec 13, 2009, 9:59 PM

Looking at traffic counts, 104 should definitely be twinned up to Port Hastings before significant re-alignments on Cape Breton are necessary (the entire mainland section should be twinned ASAP - they should aggressively pursue a twinning of the entire remaining mainland section plus the Canso Causeway bypass). Once that is done, Cape Breton can begin to be conquered.

Existing 105 could even be downgraded and renumbered as Trunk 5 once 104 bypasses it from Port Hastings to the CBRM, since no part of it is a freeway and most of it is a rural arterial highway.

I do agree the existing Canso Causeway should be maintained as Trunk 4 for local traffic, since otherwise for local vehicles from Auld Cove to Port Hastings, it is a long way out to the two exits necessary.

The new 4-lane bridge/causeway could also be tolled until the cost is paid off, but in that situation, trucks would be banned from the existing causeway.

Looking at traffic counts alone, I'd have to agree with you for the most part. The only issues are that most people actually take the longer way (105) because of the condition of Tk 4, though as the upgrading along Tk 4 continues, that may change. The other issue is the hairpin on Kelly's Mountain isn't likely going anywhere anytime soon, and neither is the truck traffic there. The hairpin speed rating is 40km/h at the end of a long, steep descent, and that's why there's so many problems with it. This has prompted some truckers nervous of it to take Tk 4, which has no shoulders and a lane width that is too narrow to properly accomodate truck traffic. According to word on the street, there was a ban on trucks on Tk 4, and although I've never seen anything official to confirm this, it would be a good location for a truck ban, at least until there's a minimum of maintained gravel shoulders and wider lanes along it's entire length.

Basically, even though the traffic counts data doesn't warrant the completion of a 2-lane 104 through CB, imho the other circumstances surrounding the situation do warrant a push to be done on it. I do however agree that twinning on the mainland takes priority, but it should be done a lot faster than what's happening now, and the push through CB needs to be done immediately after the mainland twinning.

I also agree that 105 should be downgraded to Tk 5 once the 104 is done because it is far from freeway standard, and is probably the 100-series highway that's least deserving of the designation by design standards. I also think that 162 and 142 should be downgraded to Trunks as well, but that's more because of traffic counts and maintenance priorities than design standards. They served their purpose while mining was big, but now there's really not much use for them beyond local trunks or even collectors.

Shortest route to the Avalon - Scatarie Island to Point Crewe - 298 km (but through French waters)

MonctonRad

Dec 14, 2009, 12:07 AM

Part of me thinks the causeway would remain as Scenic Rte 4 even with a new crossing. The causeway has created an ice-free harbour for Port Hawkesbury and Melford, so there could be more economic implications there on its removal, seeing as Port Hawesbury handles high volumes of bulk cargo and the ice-free harbour was a selling point for the Melford container terminal proposal. :shrug:

As for the non-native animals, they usually get killed by traffic before they make it across. :cool:

I agree, the existing causeway would have to remain because of the (artifical) ice free harbour at Port Hawksbury.

If a new link is built to CB, I imagine it would be a bridge. I have a feeling that a new causeway might be the more expensive option. It seems to me that the existing causeway is (was) the deepest one in the world when it was constructed. It took half of Porcupine Mountain for the fill.

A bridge would likely be cheaper and if the existing causeway is maintained, local rte. 4 and the rail line could still continue to use it.

How much traffic is using this rail line at present now anyway?

Dmajackson

Dec 14, 2009, 1:13 AM

About posting Google Maps images on the forum, I cheat. That is to say I take a screencap, crop it in paint, and then host the jpg on my pbase account.

And for the Port Hawkesbury bypass, my assumption based on where the 104 ends at that end right now, it being planned to intersect 105, and the probable area for a new crossing, is a route similar to this here.

http://www.pbase.com/image/120255829.jpg

It probably goes either a little further south of the airport, or it goes north of it, but I doubt the airport actually poses much of a problem as it's a low traffic airport for small private planes.

I might post mine later when I'm done.

Basically right now I have this;

The bridge + approaches would be approximately 4km long and be located where the 104 currently turns South on the mainland.

The freeway would cross the Strait and Trunk 19 then curve south to Hwy 105 then continue down to the existing Hwy 104.

For now I have interchanges at the mainland approach (new connector to Trunk 4), CB approach (new connector to Trunk 19), Highway 105, and Trunk 4. For service to Port Hawkesbury interchanges could be built at either Kings Rd or Crandall Rd.

Smevo

Dec 14, 2009, 3:27 AM

I might post mine later when I'm done.

Basically right now I have this;

The bridge + approaches would be approximately 4km long and be located where the 104 currently turns South on the mainland.

The freeway would cross the Strait and Trunk 19 then curve south to Hwy 105 then continue down to the existing Hwy 104.

For now I have interchanges at the mainland approach (new connector to Trunk 4), CB approach (new connector to Trunk 19), Highway 105, and Trunk 4. For service to Port Hawkesbury interchanges could be built at either Kings Rd or Crandall Rd.

I was debating between Kings and Crandall myself, but Crandall seemed to provide the faster/more direct route into town. The mainland side sounds exactly like what I was thinking, though my route on that side is slightly off (towards the south) because I started where 104 ends on the CB side and tried to work around property lines to the mainland...it may have been better to work from the other end as the route I did crossed both the current 104 and the current Tk 4 on the mainland in very quick succesion. What I did on that side because of this was a 1/2 cloverleaf, 1/2 diamond interchange with the current 104, then met at an angle further west down the 104. I didn't dwell on that section too much though, since I'm pretty sure they already have some route options worked out as far as the causeway and probably as far as the Port Hawkesbury bypass to where it meets with the current CB 104.

If you get the chance, I'd love to see your idea, and if your interested in proposing a route to the Sydney area (by that I mean urban CBRM), I'd love to see that too, but I definitely would like to see what you've worked out so far. :cheers:

Dmajackson

Dec 14, 2009, 8:48 PM

^I'll put up my preliminary one in a couple of hours.

Does anyone know the minimum height a bridge has to be to allow shipping traffic below?

Dmajackson

Dec 14, 2009, 9:59 PM

Here's my rough idea so far;

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2765/4185263315_6e9ecb4267_b.jpg

Basically using Google Earth I followed the gentlest sloped path as possible keeping within a reasonable distance of the Strait. The birdge approaches are at approximately 100m above sea level, the lowest point is 55m between Kings Road and Highway 105 (there's a cove with steep slopes to the airport which is over 100m high), and the highest point is 115m just north of Hwy 105.

From the existing CB 104 the new freeway heads north-west for 2.25km. Along this section one diamond (Crandall Rd) and one half parclo (Trunk 4) would be constructed. Because of the proximity of the interchanges the freeway would six lanes wide with a depressed median

At 2.25km in the freeway will turn west then north-west crossing Kings Road. This section covers approximately 2.15km (4.40km) and will be built to four-lane depressed median standards. No interchanges are planned.

North-west of Kings Road the highway will be carefully built into the cove slopes and continue for 4.51km (~9.0km)crossing Highway 105 in an underpass. Near the end the road will curve west. A half parclo interchange will be constructed for the northside of the Hwy 105 underpass.

Approximately 9.0km in a brand new state-of-the-art 4km bridge will cross the Canso Strait. The bridge will be deisgned for 6 six lanes divided of traffic but will be initially built for four lanes divided. Included in the bridge a seperated multi-use trail will be built to provide a future crossing for the Trans Canada Trail.

The western approaches to the bridge will consist of a standard diamond interchange and connector to Trunk 4 and toll booths.

In all the new section of Highway 104 will be 13-14km long and be divided and four lanes.

For construction reasons I would suggest breaking it into three phases; Phase I would be the Port Hawkesbury bypass (Trunk 4 to Crandall), Phase II would extend the bypass up to Highway 105, and Phase III would be the bridge and approaches.

Smevo

Dec 15, 2009, 12:35 AM

^Looks good. For time reasons, I didn't bother looking at terrain since I was just doing a rough idea, but I'm glad you had. I don't think you'll have an issue with shipping clearance, since most of the traffic on that side of the strait is pleasure-craft. There's the occasional barge that passes through the causeway locks, but most of the shipping traffic enters and leaves the strait from the ice-free side. I would assume the causeway locks/channel would have to be widened to accomodate anything that would create a clearance issue with you're bridge height.

I can see why you did the phases the way you did for construction reasons, my only comment on them is that it should be two phases, with phase 1 being your first two phases, then phase 2 being your phase 3. The reason I say this is the bypass wouldn't be overly useful as a bypass until both phase 1 and 2 of your plan were completed.

There's some property-line issues with the bridge on the CB side, but in all other areas you've avoided those nicely. On that point, since you're crossing King's Rd in a clearing between two stretches with houses on them, would you overpass or underpass King's Rd?

Overall, very nicely done.

Dmajackson

Dec 15, 2009, 8:56 PM

^Looks good. For time reasons, I didn't bother looking at terrain since I was just doing a rough idea, but I'm glad you had. I don't think you'll have an issue with shipping clearance, since most of the traffic on that side of the strait is pleasure-craft. There's the occasional barge that passes through the causeway locks, but most of the shipping traffic enters and leaves the strait from the ice-free side. I would assume the causeway locks/channel would have to be widened to accomodate anything that would create a clearance issue with you're bridge height.

I can see why you did the phases the way you did for construction reasons, my only comment on them is that it should be two phases, with phase 1 being your first two phases, then phase 2 being your phase 3. The reason I say this is the bypass wouldn't be overly useful as a bypass until both phase 1 and 2 of your plan were completed.

There's some property-line issues with the bridge on the CB side, but in all other areas you've avoided those nicely. On that point, since you're crossing King's Rd in a clearing between two stretches with houses on them, would you overpass or underpass King's Rd?

Overall, very nicely done.

The bridge could easily be lowered (allowing the approaches to be further down the hill on the CB side). For comparison the MacKay Bridge here in Halifax has a vertical clearance of 55m and has every type of watercraft imaginable going underneath.

The construction could easily be broken into 2 phases. I imagine the bridge would take at least three years to construct so starting on the bridge before the bypass is complete would be a good idea.

For Kings Road I'd have to say an overpass. The area is quite hilly (the two sections of houses have a 50m elevation difference!) so raising the road slighty would work the best (be cheaper than blasting).

Dmajackson

Dec 15, 2009, 10:58 PM

As for the potential future routing of Highway 104 beyond St. Peter's I'm starting to draw a map but it is a very complex area because of the hills and lakes.

Here's a list including the map from earlier and as far as Soldiers Cove for where I think interchanges should be located;

*I included Kings Road becuase Exit 43 is already existing so the proposed Port Hawkesbury Bypass must have this included to line-up existing exit numbers.

Smevo

Dec 16, 2009, 2:13 AM

^You're Port Hawkesbury bypass route inspired me to take a closer look at my route and make some revisions. I actually made two options, one ending at Sydport Access Rd and the second ending at Hwy 125 in between the current Exits 7 and 8 (New 125 exit would be 7A).

I worked around property lines at first, then worked around terrain (eyeballed it rather than going through the work of trying to balance cut/fill), then double checked for property line issues.

I'd still like to see others thoughts on this, since, as you can see it gets me thinking about my own routes. :cheers:

Dmajackson

Dec 16, 2009, 4:22 AM

^My routing would be very similar to Option 1. The only thing I might change is the major crossing over Sydney River.

Smevo

Dec 16, 2009, 6:51 PM

I revised option one first, and the main reason for the crossing was to eliminate the new access roads at Ben Eion and Rte 216 extension in my original routing. If the crossing remained in the routing, it could probably be angled more if the curves proved too sharp for the design standards (again, I eyeballed rather than going through the calculations). There's a steep hill on the north side of Rte 216, so I was aiming for a more gradual climb on that end of the crossing. It would likely be a causeway crossing, as there's a causeway crossing for a local road in the bay just north of this location.

The lack of crossings was one of the pros for option 2, though I purposely swung well east to try to limit faster access from Sydney to its suburbs to cut down on local traffic. There's room for a flyover interchange there, which is what I think would be necessary at that point, but as Membertou expands that room will start to disappear on the north side of 125. Option 1 would definitely not be any faster for Sydney to suburbia, so I doubt the existing interchange at Exit 5 (Sydport Access Rd) would need much in improvements. The traffic levels should still make a diamond interchange sufficient there, but if a better one was needed, there is a lot more room on that one. There's also plenty of room for Sydport Access Rd to be realigned to an improved interchange if the suburban development in Coxheath starts to close in, but if the ROW is secured relatively soon, that won't be an issue.

I was checking different area maps on the CBRM website with property lines roughed in, and there is no existing ROW for a new 104 that I could make out, so it would have to be secured. However, much of the property that these two options would go through is already municipally or provincially owned and they would just have to adjust the boundaries or subdivide to create a ROW corridor.

Smevo

Dec 16, 2009, 9:29 PM

Trunks are now done, so I'll try to get those up this weekend. :cheers:

Smevo

Dec 18, 2009, 8:42 PM

I'll only do the lists for AADT, and I'm cutting out AADT/lane for these and the collectors (I'll probably only do AADT for the collectors) because the road geometry changes too quickly from rural back highway to suburban arterial to urban arterial (you could have all three within 2km in some parts) so it would clutter up the maps too much, not to mention that the satellite photo resolution is still lacking in some of the urban areas of NS (namely Truro).

Anyway, here's the maps for Average Daily Traffic. Again, all maps made by me using Google Maps Satellite Imagery.

Trunk 2
http://www.pbase.com/smevo/image/120396424.jpg
*Busiest Section - between Truro line (North) and Hwy 102 I/C (Exit 14), Truro (21,879)
*Tk 2 counts don't start until Waverly, so I wouldn't be surprised if the Bedford Hwy section actually had higher counts than this, but I can only go on what I know from the book itself.

^Not surprised to see that the Magazine Hill is so busy. I live a kilometre or so away and that roads packed 24/7.

Smevo didn't mention this exactly but the busiest section is Trunk 7 in Burnside which is Windmill Road. Doesn't surprise me the area has most of the regional truck traffic, tens of thousands of commuters heading downtown or into Burnside/City of Lakes/Dartmouth Crossing, and tonnes of buses a day all crammed into four through lanes (two each way), a two way left turn lane, and bus/right-turn lane each way.

Smevo, just a request. Can you possibly find the raw number for Trunk 7 through Bedford (between Trunk 33 and Trunk 2)?

Smevo, just a request. Can you possibly find the raw number for Trunk 7 through Bedford (between Trunk 33 and Trunk 2)?

Unfortunately, they don't start reporting the counts until the Bedford Bypass. It seems by the location of their counts that they try to get kind of a trip generation/destination idea, since they tend to skip large lengths of probably busier local road sections. The only trunks I didn't see them do this with are the really low traffic ones. They skipped a lot of in-city sections of Halifax and Sydney, and in-town sections of New Glasgow, Amherst, New Waterford and Glace Bay (among others).

I'm sure there's good reasons for this, maybe some of the missing info will pop up in local road counts which I'm going to look at after the collectors so I can do "comprehensive" traffic maps for the urban areas in NS. I'm going to cut off a lot of the lower-traffic routes for that one, I'm thinking right now I'll make the cutoff at 5,000, but I may change that to 10,000 as I go through it. The colour scheme will remain the same though.

Architype

Dec 19, 2009, 4:00 AM

Say hello to Atlantic Canada's newest highway, just opened to the public, mainly route 500 & 510 I believe, over 1100 km. There is not much traffic yet.

The final section of the Trans-Labrador Highway, stretching between an area near Cartwright in the south to Happy Valley-Goose Bay in central Labrador, is now connected.

The overall highway, which has a mostly gravel surface, runs for hundreds of kilometres. Its route goes from the western mining towns of Labrador City and Wabush across the territory and then along the coast to fishing communities in southern Labrador.

That makes my (extremely expanded) Cross-Canada trip I'm hoping to do whenever I move back East a bit easier. I'll just have to remeber to fill up in Happy Valley-Goose Bay and bring along several extra jerry-cans of gas. ;)

Dmajackson

Dec 21, 2009, 10:33 PM

This was originally posted in the Halifax section. Its the official plans for the Hwighway 107 Extension (Burnside Expressway) here in Bedford/Dartmouth scheduled to be built in a couple of years.

This (http://www.halifax.ca/IAM/CorridorStudy/documents/HWY107PRESENTATION-B.pdf) is interesting, its similar to the drawing in the pdf above, but this includes the final plan for the 102/101 interchange area, exit 3 and 4 on the 102 would be merged into one massive interchange, it's complicated, but services every road and should really move quite smooth. It takes a few minutes to take it all in. The red is the existing conditions, black is proposed.

Architype

Dec 22, 2009, 5:30 AM

Here's some info about Metro St. John's N.L.'s newest highway, yet to be completed.

" When completed, the Team Gushue Highway will eventually terminate at the . . . .Goulds Bypass-Pitts Memorial interchange, with a total length of 9.6 kilometres. It is estimated the second phase will total $40 million and will be cost-shared between municipal, provincial and federal governments."
http://www.releases.gov.nl.ca/releases/2006/tw/0622n04.htm

"When it's finished in 2011, the highway — named after Brad Gushue, who skipped Canada to a gold medal in men's curling at the 2006 Torino Olympics — will connect (The TCH in the north of St John's) with the Goulds Bypass Road " (South of Mount Pearl).
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2009/11/19/nl-toll-highway-191109.html

Here's an old map (can't find a proper one), showing the route, and updated to show approximate interchange locations.

http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/2672/teamgushuehighwaymap5in.jpg

This will be a four lane divided controlled access highway, or freeway. At the highest elevations it will have some great panoramic views of the city. The completed section in the north is called route 3A, and will connect to route 3 in the south (probably will all eventually be called route 3), and will then connect with route 10, the Southern Shore Highway. This will service much of St. Johns' existing and newly developing suburban areas in the Northwest and Southwest, as well as Mount Pearl and points South. Phase one in the North is complete, and the rest is supposed to be finished in 2011.

This highway project has recently been controversial because of funding disagreements over maintenance between St.John's and Mount Pearl. These disagreements stalled the construction process until now.

For the section of Tk 2 in Truro, although the counts were taken on Robie St which is 4-lane, a good section of what constitutes Tk 2 in town is still 2-lane. I would guess that only Robie St reaches the level of traffic indicated, but I still marked the section with an asterisk because of the 2-lane parts of the section in town.

^I think that list proves that the 102 needs to be widened and upgraded desperately. I find it funny that only spot #10 has a proper collector/express system in place.

Smevo

Dec 24, 2009, 7:01 AM

^I think that list proves that the 102 needs to be widened and upgraded desperately. I find it funny that only spot #10 has a proper collector/express system in place.

I absolutely agree with you there. I posted it more for curiosity's sake.

One thing we have to keep in mind is that many of these sections of busy trunk highway that show up in the list are actually local urban arterials with lower speed limits (usually 50km/h) so even the two lane sections, while congested, may not be overly bad. I'd still strongly consider upgrading the ones that appear in the list, knowing how King's Rd and Prince St (Tk 4) in Sydney can get and they're 4-lane. What I'm basically trying to get at here is that comparing 100-series highways and Trunk highways with similar traffic levels is like comparing apples to oranges because of the different designs, so that's why this list was more for curiosity's sake than anything else. That said, I plan on doing a similar list including all 3 levels of highways after I do the collectors, but again, we'll have to keep in mind the different design standards.

One of the things that surprised even me (which I noticed while doing the work for the 100-series posts) was how low the traffic was on Hwy 104 between the NB Border and Truro. I knew there were sections that were lower traffic, but given it's reputation for how busy it is, I was surprised to see for instance that only the section closest to Truro made it on this top 50 list, an only just barely at that. All the other sections of 104 that made it on the list are in the New Glasgow area.

MonctonRad

Dec 24, 2009, 1:29 PM

:previous:

I'm not too surprised, there are not that many people in Cumberland and northern Colchester County and the majority of the population tends to be coastal and therefore does not live close to the highway allignment. As such, the 104 is mostly an interprovincial connector.

The twinning of the 104 is mostly justifiable based on it's status as part of the national highway system and also because of heavy interprovincial truck traffic. Local traffic volumes do not factor into the equation here very much.

Smevo

Dec 24, 2009, 6:50 PM

:previous:

I'm not too surprised, there are not that many people in Cumberland and northern Colchester County and the majority of the population tends to be coastal and therefore does not live close to the highway allignment. As such, the 104 is mostly an interprovincial connector.

The twinning of the 104 is mostly justifiable based on it's status as part of the national highway system and also because of heavy interprovincial truck traffic. Local traffic volumes do not factor into the equation here very much.

I'm more surprised because of the reputation than because of personal experience. Not to single Bedford_DJ out, but his post on the first page speaks to that sections reputation as a busy highway:

I know it's one person's guess in this case, but it's a common misconception, and to have it guessed as busier than both 101 and 103 with their own reputations speaks volumes. I knew it wouldn't be the busiest, but I expected it to be busier is what I guess I'm saying.

Dmajackson

Dec 24, 2009, 7:37 PM

One of the things that surprised even me (which I noticed while doing the work for the 100-series posts) was how low the traffic was on Hwy 104 between the NB Border and Truro. I knew there were sections that were lower traffic, but given it's reputation for how busy it is, I was surprised to see for instance that only the section closest to Truro made it on this top 50 list, an only just barely at that. All the other sections of 104 that made it on the list are in the New Glasgow area.

The low traffic volumes on the 104 actually make sense especially if they are averages (high traffic in summer, low traffic in winter).

I have family in Oxford (just off the 104), Pugwash (on the north shore), Amherst, Springhill, Birchwood, Sackville (NB), Moncton, and a couple of other places nobody knows about. What I've found out over the years is because of the lack of exits on the 104 and its distance outside of towns it;s actually faster to use the backroads to get around. On the 104 you can't speed (too many cops) but on the backroads if you dare too you can push it to 100km/h+ and have a more direct route (I personally don't do this but my family is full of leadfeet).

For the most part if you are only going from one town to the next you use either one of the north-south corridors (Tnk 2, 321/301), or one of the east-west corridors (Tnk 4/204, Tnk 6). So for example going from Oxford to Amherst Route 204 is efficient (it dumps you at the mall), but if you are going further to lets say Sackville you take the 104 right from Oxford. My favourite example has to be getting from here in Bedford to Pugwash. Most people would take the 104 to Oxford then the 301/321 to Port Howe/Phillip then Trunk 6 to wherever you're heading. My family however takes the 104 to Wentworth Valley (Exit 11), Trunk 4 to Wentworth, Route 307 to Fountain Road, Across the Wallace River to Route 368 then up to Trunk 6. On a good day using backroads like this can shave 15min+ off the trip.

Dmajackson

Dec 24, 2009, 7:50 PM

I'm more surprised because of the reputation than because of personal experience. Not to single Bedford_DJ out, but his post on the first page speaks to that sections reputation as a busy highway:

I know it's one person's guess in this case, but it's a common misconception, and to have it guessed as busier than both 101 and 103 with their own reputations speaks volumes. I knew it wouldn't be the busiest, but I expected it to be busier is what I guess I'm saying.

I should probably clarify why it seems busy when really its not.

The 104 is of course part of the Trans-Canada system so it is mainly used by out-of-province tourists and is especially busy in the summer with it being peak tourist season and Cumberland County being cottage-country.

Since many vacationers and tourists travel during the same hours (daytime on weekends, evenings on weekdays) the highway gets cramped easily especially through Folly Mountain where trucks slow the line down. The effect of having trucks climbing steep hills is what causes the crowdedness before the tollbooths and becuase of the equally steep declines afterwards it also explains why there is no line-ups after the tollbooth.

When I posted that list on the first page I probably was only thinking of the times that I'm usually on the highway and not at the fact that at night the road is empty except for tractor trailers.

The fact that almost nobody uses the road in the winter further drops the average to very low levels.

Smevo

Dec 25, 2009, 9:10 AM

I should probably clarify why it seems busy when really its not.

The 104 is of course part of the Trans-Canada system so it is mainly used by out-of-province tourists and is especially busy in the summer with it being peak tourist season and Cumberland County being cottage-country.

Since many vacationers and tourists travel during the same hours (daytime on weekends, evenings on weekdays) the highway gets cramped easily especially through Folly Mountain where trucks slow the line down. The effect of having trucks climbing steep hills is what causes the crowdedness before the tollbooths and becuase of the equally steep declines afterwards it also explains why there is no line-ups after the tollbooth.

When I posted that list on the first page I probably was only thinking of the times that I'm usually on the highway and not at the fact that at night the road is empty except for tractor trailers.

The fact that almost nobody uses the road in the winter further drops the average to very low levels.

I'm very familiar with this effect, I travelled that highway several times a year for 8 years between Fredericton and Sydney, so my observation was always that it doesn't get crowded until the two lane section starts north of New Glasgow. However, I recall the wikipedia article used to say it was "one of the busiest highways in NS" or something of that nature, I can't remember the exact wording, although that has since been taken down. That of course means I can't find it now, so I'm relying solely on memory for that.

Seasonal variations would drop the AADT, but not the ADT levels. ADT is the average daily traffic over the period of the count, so variations during the week could potentially have an effect on it. The ADT levels I quoted were the highest available counts, so in theory the closest to peak season traffic available. The top 50 list was AADT, but the ADT levels for 104 didn't vary that wildly from the AADT levels. Again, it's not really surprising when you think about it, but the reputation was there and seemed quite common from my experience.

But that's the whole reason I started this thread in the first place, to get the facts out and confirm suspicions in some cases while dispelling myths in others. That might not be the best way to word it but I can't really think of a better way right now.

As an aside, I think those hills on Cobequid Pass would be a perfect location to monitor for the future installation of climbing lanes on the divided highway. For now, most of the time, the divided highway alone works fine, but even now you occasionally get one truck trying to pass another going uphill and causing everyone to slow down. It would probably have to be much more common before climbing lanes were installed though.

Again, sorry Bedford for kind of singling you out, but you're post was the closest example I could find.

Anyway, Merry Christmas (and Happy Holidays) to all you guys. I hope it's a good holiday season for you all! :cheers:

eternallyme

Dec 26, 2009, 2:19 AM

^I think that list proves that the 102 needs to be widened and upgraded desperately. I find it funny that only spot #10 has a proper collector/express system in place.

The traffic counts on 102 in Halifax certainly don't warrant a collector/express setup though, but it should definitely be widened to 6 lanes if it isn't already, between the beginning of the freeway and Exit 4 and again from Exits 5 to 6.

Dmajackson

Dec 26, 2009, 7:00 PM

The traffic counts on 102 in Halifax certainly don't warrant a collector/express setup though, but it should definitely be widened to 6 lanes if it isn't already, between the beginning of the freeway and Exit 4 and again from Exits 5 to 6.

Yah thats probably true ...

Its not widened to six lanes at all yet eventhough there are plans for that up to around Sackville I believe.

Smevo

Dec 29, 2009, 8:25 PM

The traffic counts on 102 in Halifax certainly don't warrant a collector/express setup though, but it should definitely be widened to 6 lanes if it isn't already, between the beginning of the freeway and Exit 4 and again from Exits 5 to 6.

I agree with you for the most part (definitely with the expansion to 6-lanes). A collector system, while the traffic counts alone might not warrant it, may be useful between Joseph Howe Dr and Hwy 103 (the busiest section of 102) because of the close proximity between exits. It's not likely to happen, however, because there's no room for such a system between JHD and NWAD without land annexations getting involved, complete with ripping down houses and/or closing a golf course. 6 lanes + weaving (for this section) should be sufficient, but I was just saying that a collector system would probably be a better design for that section if it wasn't for the space issues. Depending on the expected traffic counts on the collector, it could be as simple as a single-lane collector, though if memory serves me right, the existing ramp counts would warrant a double-lane collector if a collector were to be built at all.

Dmajackson

Dec 30, 2009, 7:19 PM

I agree with you for the most part (definitely with the expansion to 6-lanes). A collector system, while the traffic counts alone might not warrant it, may be useful between Joseph Howe Dr and Hwy 103 (the busiest section of 102) because of the close proximity between exits. It's not likely to happen, however, because there's no room for such a system between JHD and NWAD without land annexations getting involved, complete with ripping down houses and/or closing a golf course. 6 lanes + weaving (for this section) should be sufficient, but I was just saying that a collector system would probably be a better design for that section if it wasn't for the space issues. Depending on the expected traffic counts on the collector, it could be as simple as a single-lane collector, though if memory serves me right, the existing ramp counts would warrant a double-lane collector if a collector were to be built at all.

I agree that a C/E system would be wonderful from Joe Howe to Lacewood and a double-lane one would most likely be necessairy because of the 103 and Dunbrack/North West Arm being on the section. With new interchanges and underpasses bing planned or built right now ideally a C/E system would extend up to at least Exit 4C and then up to the airport would be six lanes.

I think I posted the link a while back but there are plans for a basic C/E system between Exit 4A/B and 4C when the Highway 107 extension is built.

Dmajackson

Dec 30, 2009, 9:16 PM

So the Cobequid Pass fiasco last year has resulted in two upgrades I noticed earlier this week.

The now have nice new permnament digital signs installed on Highway 104before the section (one in the Wentworth Loop area west of Truro and one before the Oxford turn-off). The signs aren't working yet but as long as they dont say 'Speed Radar Enforced' like here in Halifax they'll be helpful.

Also they now have a new webcam installed on the north side of the pass called Lornevale located at the Bass River Road. Lornevale Webcam (http://www.gov.ns.ca/tran/cameras/cameradetails.asp?id=Lornevale)

Smevo

Dec 31, 2009, 5:39 PM

I agree that a C/E system would be wonderful from Joe Howe to Lacewood and a double-lane one would most likely be necessairy because of the 103 and Dunbrack/North West Arm being on the section. With new interchanges and underpasses bing planned or built right now ideally a C/E system would extend up to at least Exit 4C and then up to the airport would be six lanes.

I think I posted the link a while back but there are plans for a basic C/E system between Exit 4A/B and 4C when the Highway 107 extension is built.

Between 103 and Lacewood seems like more of a stretch since there's more room to weave on that stretch. Here's a quick run-down of that section.
Section - Approx. Length O/P to O/P (AADT)
JHD-NWAD - 1.35km (43,180)
NWAD-103 - 0.75km (53,000)
103 - Lacewood - 2.4km (45,100)
Looking at the ramp traffic though, it doesn't really decrease until after Lacewood Dr, so a collector system could still be beneficial I suppose.

Between Hwy 101 & the future 107 would definitely be another candidate for a collector system because of the close proximity of exits, imho. If DOT is including it in their plans, good on them. AFAIK, there's been basically no political pressure (at least compared to other upgrades) for extending this highway, so good on DOT for taking the initiative.

As far as Cobequid Pass is concerned, if it snows, you're pretty much better off taking Tk 4. The snow always gets heavier as you're climbing the hills, and they made a big issue of how they created embankments to keep snow off the highway when they were first opening it. The problem is, they only put the snow embankments on one side of the highway, which means whenever it's snowing and the wind blows from the other direction, the pass is impassable. They might want to consider snow fencing the area, though the views of the valleys below might disappear, it could be beneficial since it seems to become an issue every winter. The VIS signs will be nice if they're used properly ie-only on to report an accident, construction, or poor conditions. If they're on all the time, nobody pays attention to them.

Smevo

Jan 30, 2010, 7:28 AM

I've just now finished the maps for the collectors. To try to avoid it being anti-climactic (and because of how many collectors there are), I'll be breaking up the posting by aadt range. I'm still not sure exactly how they'll be broken up, but it will take a few posts to get through them all. For now, here's some tables.

Just wanted to say sorry for the delay in posting maps. This week turned out to be busier than I expected. I'll get them up this weekend though. I'll also still be working on the urban area traffic-flow maps after this, then start searching for the other provinces (NB is still a bust for now though). :cheers: